Apple launches iPad Pro, updates MacBook Air and Mac mini

At an event in Brooklyn, New York yesterday, Apple unveiled the new iPad Pro, the new MacBook Air, and Mac mini.

iPad Pro

Following the trend, the new iPad Pro sports a larger screen to body ratio with minimal bezels. Powering the new iPad is an eight-core A12X Bionic chip which is powerful enough for Photoshop CC, coming in 2019. There is a USB-C connector, Gigabit-class LTE, and up to 1TB of storage. There are two variants with 11-inch and 12.9-inch Liquid Retina displays.

The display can go up to 120Hz for smooth scrolling but the headphone jack is removed. Battery life is stated to be 10-hour long. The dedicated Neural engine supports tasks requiring machine learning from photography to AR. Apple is calling it the ‘best device ever for AR’ due to its cameras, sensors, improved four-speaker audio combined with the power of the A12X Bionic chip.

There is also a second generation Apple Pencil that magnetically attaches to iPad Pro and charges at the same time. The Smart Keyboard Folio is made for versatility. The Keyboard and Apple Pencil are sold separately.

MacBook Air

The new MacBook Air features a 13-inch Retina display, Touch ID, a newer i5 processor, and more portable design compared to the previous MacBook. This MacBook Air is the cheapest Macbook to sport a Retina display with a resolution of 2560×1600. There is a built-in 720p FaceTime camera. For better security, there is TouchID—a fingerprint sensor built into the keyboard and a T2 security chip.

Each key is individually lit in the keyboard and the Touchpad area is also larger. The new MacBook Air comes with an 8th generation Intel Core i5 processor, Intel UHD Graphics, and a faster 2133 MHz RAM up to 16GB. The storage options are available up to 1.5TB. There are only two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack, no other connectors. Apple says that the new MacBook Air is faster and provides a snappier experience.

Mac mini

The Mac got a big performance boost being five times faster than the previous one. There are options for either four- or six-core processors, with turbo boost that can go upto 4.6GHz. Both versions come with an Intel UHD Graphics 630. For memory, there is up to 64GB of 2666 MHz RAM.

The new Mac mini also features a T2 security chip. So files stored on the SSD are automatically and fully encrypted. There are four Thunderbolt 3 ports and a 10-gigabit Ethernet port. There is HDMI 2.0 port, two USB-A ports, a 3.5mm audio jack. The storage options are available up to 2TB.

Apple says that both the MacBook Air and the Mac mini are made with 100% recycled aluminum which reduces the carbon footprint of these devices by 50%.